Summary
This North Dakota Supreme Court opinion affirms a trial court's decision to award sole custody of a minor child to the father following a divorce proceeding. The appellant mother challenged the custody award, arguing that the father abandoned the child, that domestic violence should trigger a rebuttable presumption against his custody, and that third parties who temporarily cared for the child should be granted custody. The court found no clear error in the trial court's factual findings regarding abandonment, domestic violence credibility, and the lack of exceptional circumstances to override the natural parent's rights. Consequently, the custody judgment was affirmed, and double costs were awarded on appeal due to procedural irregularities in the appendix.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the trial court's custody award to Russell Cox was clearly erroneous
- Whether the domestic‑violence presumption against a perpetrator applies
- Whether exceptional circumstances exist to award custody to a third‑party psychological parent
Holdings
- The trial court's award of custody to Russell Cox is not clearly erroneous and is affirmed.
- The trial court correctly found no credible evidence of domestic violence meeting the statutory presumption; therefore no error.
- No exceptional circumstances existed; the natural parent’s paramount right to custody prevails.
Key quotations
“The trial court found the evidence of domestic violence by Russell Cox was insufficient to raise the presumption against custody by the perpetrator, and found it would be in the child's best interests to be placed in his custody.” (¶ 7)
“We conclude the trial court's award of custody to Russell Cox is not clearly erroneous.” (¶ 25)
Factual background
Christi Cox and Russell Cox married in 1997 and had a son born June 30, 1997. The marriage was troubled, involving domestic‑violence allegations and financial instability. Christi later gave the child to a foster couple, the Johnsons, and moved to Arizona. Russell pursued the child and sought custody, which the trial court awarded to him.
Procedural history
Christi Cox filed for divorce and was initially awarded custody by default. The judgment was vacated; the trial court later awarded custody to Russell Cox after finding insufficient domestic‑violence evidence. Cox appealed the custody award.